The Spiral Galaxy Saga's
by The-Chilly-Academic
Summary: Set at the moment Kara Thrace jumps the Galactica... They arrive in a new part of space, and discover the true location of their lost brothers and sisters... The 13th tribe. Having beaten the Reapers, the known galaxy is still repairing the damage. On a low risk mission, the Alliance encounter the battle scarred Galactica... and so, our story begins... Co-Writer: VailedPayload71
1. Disclaimer

**Disclaimer:**

**This is a work of Fanfiction using themes, characters, and locations from the media listed below:**

**- Mass Effect 1, 2, & 3**

**- Battlestar Galactica (Re-Imagined 2003 Series)**

**- Firefly**

**- Serenity**

**All themes, characters, and locations used are credited to their respective owners/creators, and we do not claim any ownership over them.**

**This work of fiction is derived from our own imagination, and does not specifically ascribe to official story canon. This work is intended for entertainment purposes only, outside of the authors/creators official works.**

**No profits are made from the creation/distribution of this story.**


	2. Foreward

**Forward:**

The Citadel council... a galaxy wide empire which controls almost all known intelligent life in the galaxy, has discovered many lifeforms, and countless planets. However, with all their wondrous discoveries, they have still only realistically discovered around 1% of the galaxy... limited by their reliance on the Mass Relay Network to travel. It is therefore feasible to assume that in all likelihood there are countless more intelligent species throughout the galaxy, developing on their own without a Mass Relay of their own to exploit. Could there also, in theory, be other empires? Other hidden wars? All still taking place without any of the council races ever realising?

The Salarian scientist Mordin Solus once said: "Humans are more genetically diverse. More variable. Mutations. Adaptations. Far beyond other life. Ignore their superficial appearance, It's down to their genetic code. Biotic abilities, intelligence levels. Can look at random Asari or Krogan, and make reasonable guesses. Humans are too variable to judge. Outliers in all species, of course. Geniuses, idiots. But human probability curve offers greater overall variety."

What is always assumed, is the human race originated on planet Earth, adapting to different environments as they spread out. However, they more often than not, they find ways to change their environment to suit them. The human race is not a product of its environment... more it is an inevitability, to eventually have the need to leave its planet of 'origin', and bring change with them wherever they go. In this way, humanity is fate and destiny in a physical form, creating history and stories. Appearing in many places throughout the universe, some having never come into contact, or even having knowledge of the others existence, forever travelling through the stars.

This story chronicles some of those journeys...


	3. Chapter 1: A Leap of Faith

**Chapter 1: A Leap of Faith**

**Galactica – Attack on the Cylon Colony:**

The Galactica shook under the weight of the Cylon bombardment.

"Starbuck... Jump the ship!"

Starbuck staggered over to the FTL control console.

"I don't have the rendezvous coordinates!" she yelled.

"It doesn't matter... just jump us out of here now."

She glanced above her as the ship shuddered ominously around them, the sounds of creaking, cracking metal and heavy gunfire filled the air... it was all she could hear...

"There must be away out of here" she whispered to herself.

It was almost immediate... all other sounds faded to almost nothing... music... the song that had haunted her since her return to the fleet began to play in her head... drowning out the carnage around her. Memory flashes filled her senses... the numbers came to her... she typed them into the console, not knowing where they would lead... she didn't care... they were right. She grabbed the command key, jammed it into the hole and turned it.

"Jump!" she screamed.

The ship lurched away in a blinding flash of light, and re-materialised. Groaning and heaving under the stress from the jump. The damage from countless battles taking its toll on her damaged frame. Sparks flew from a nearby navigation screen as a heavy beam fell from the ceiling, smashing straight into the deck. Her entire structure was buckling and twisting dangerously, threatening to fall apart completely... but the old girl stayed whole... stubborn as its commander... refusing to break. She had more or less... survived.

Back in the control room, acrid smoke swirled through the air. Adama pulled himself up from the floor.

"What's the damage" he asked.

Struggling for breath, he knelt there holding himself and Roslin steady, as Tigh limped to the damage control console.

"She's got red lights across the board, her backs broken..." he turned and looked mournfully at the commander, "...she'll never jump again."

"Then... where we are, is where we're gonna stay." said the admiral.

"Where have you brought us, Kera?" asked Roslin.

Starbuck looked up from the FTL console and stared vacantly at the president, " I don't know madame president..." she said, "I just don't know..."

**SSV Shanghai – Alliance Salvage & Re-con – Ruined Arcturus Station:**

"Beginning stage two scan on the starboard side of the station Commander, so far no active energy signatures detected" said the lieutenant.

"Carry on Lieutenant," he replied, "report to me if there are any changes."

"There won't be, just like the last ten times we scanned." whispered the Colonel "You know anything of use would have been taken, or destroyed in the initial attack."

"Our orders from Alliance Command are to completely investigate the remains of this place for ANYTHING worth salvaging, before they close of this sector as a war grave."

The Colonel stared sceptically, "Our orders are a wordy way of asking us to babysit the new pups. Anyone can tell the only things coming out of there are scrap metal and body-bags."

Arcturus station was once the seat of parliament for the Earth Systems Alliance. A centre of government for democracy and military throughout all Alliance controlled space. It was the first target hit by the Reapers during the war, and was completely destroyed, all life aboard the station was killed. With the war now over, it was time to recover, and rebuild everything that was lost during those dark times.

The SSV Shanghai, after its mission to evacuate the colony of Uqbar, was the closest available ship to undertake a salvage and reconnaissance mission on the ruined station, and the surrounding wreckage of the second fleet, who bravely sacrificed their lives to allow the first and third fleets to escape. The orders were to search for any salvageable materials and technology, and to recover the bodies of any personnel possible, without risking the safety of the ship and its crew. The crew was mainly comprised of new recruits, after a mass increase in people enlisting after the war to help protect and rebuild, with a few veteran officers to train and monitor their progress. It was a low risk operation, the perfect opportunity to give them more experience on a ship, and completing missions in space.

The Commander glared, "Irrelevant of what our 'personal opinions' are, orders are orders... Colonel."

The Colonel rolled his eyes once again, "I know, I know… doesn't stop it being about as much fun as a Geth birthday party."

"They have those?"

"Commander!" the Lieutenant shouted.

"You've found something?"

"Not on the station, short-range scanners have detected a large, unknown object approaching our position, Dreadnought size by our estimates... it appeared out of nowhere Commander. No energy signatures to suggest Element Zero use, or Mass Effect fields."

"God damn it, alert Alliance Command, set the ship to condition one, all hands to battle stations," yelled the Commander, sirens sounded throughout the ship, and officers scrambled to their assigned stations, "Where is this thing Lieutenant... do we have a visual!?"

"Visual in 3... 2... 1..."

An enormous ship floated past the main observation deck. It appeared to be drifting, no thrusters were engaged, and was showing obvious signs of heavy battle damage.

"Sir, preliminary scans of the ship show multiple hull ruptures across the ship. Thrusters do not appear to be operational at this time, although I am picking up faint life signatures across the board. Awaiting further instructions Commander."

"From the damage reports my 'professional opinion' is that they won't be picking any fights with us any time soon." said the Colonel.

"I'm more concerned about whatever it is that caused the damage," the Commander turned to the Colonel, a look of concern on his face, "and what kind of life is left on that ship."

"Secondary scans are complete... they appear... human?"

"There are no registered Alliance vessels scheduled to be in this system for the next two months, and I have never seen any ship of this design before.."

"Commander," she says, cutting him off mid sentence, "they appear to be trying to communicate with us... however, its on a short-wave signal... it appears to be audio only."

"Patch it through."

The speakers crackled, then as the static cleared a voice, speaking strange unknown language could be heard.

"_... Αυτό είναι το πλοίο γαλαξία μας είναι σε μεγάλο βαθμό καταστραφεί και απαιτούν δικαστική συνδρομή..._"

"Anyone care to tell me what this is?" said the Colonel.

"Hold on sir, I'm attempting to re-calibrate our translation software, currently running through all known languages."

The lights on the console flashed and shifted as the data was being processed. After a few seconds, the dials on the screen aligned and turned green.

"We have a match... it appears to be... ancient greek? I will attempt a new translation using the new data."

"_... και απαιτούν δικαστική συνδρομή... I repeat... this is the Galactica... our ship has suffered heavy damage, and we require immediate assistance... please respond..._"

"Well... we can understand them now," said the Colonel, "but if they are human... I would like to know where the hell they came from!"

**Galactica – CIC**

Another shower of sparks spray across the room as a circuit box overloaded. Galen flitted from console to console, trying to limit the damage as much as he could using the ships systems, whilst barking orders to his surviving maintenance teams through the comm's system.

"How're we doing chief?" Adama asked, looking more battle-worn than ever.

"Better than I hoped sir, but at the moment its taking everything we have just to keep her stable. We lost a lot of good guys down there, and we don't have nearly enough to keep up."

Galen looked sadly around the damaged CIC. Beams hanging, or missing from the ceiling. Panels and screens shattered, with debris strewn across the floor. Lights flickering on and off from the damaged power systems throughout the ship. Even with a full team of Knuckledraggers, this kind of damage would have taken months to repair... even in dry dock.

"Just do the best you can chief," said Adama, laying his hand on the chiefs shoulder, "thats all anyone can ask. The longer we can stay afloat out here, the better our chances are of getting back with the rest of the fleet."

He turned to Tigh, who was staring intently at the navigation console. "Any word on that ship we picked up on DRADIS?" he asked.

"Not a frackin' word Bill," he replied, "but they haven't blown us out of the sky yet, so I'm taking that as a good sign so far. We still ain't got a response to our hails."

"Any idea where we might have ended up Sol?"

"No idea... but looks like we jumped into a debris field... with a weird looking ship just parked out there staring at us."

"It's possible they can't understand us. What's our status, is there anything we can do if they decide to attack?"

Tigh stood up and looked at Adama, "To be honest, they got us with our asses hanging out Bill, her main guns are down, most of our defences are blown to hell, and to be honest i'm not sure how her hull is still holdin' together," he smiled at the Commander, "Look on the bright side... if they open fire on us, we ain't gonna have to worry about it for too long!"

Suddenly crackling came through from the ships speakers.

"_... Vessel identifying as 'Galactica'... This is the commander of the SSV Shanghai... you have entered Alliance controlled space... we have no record of your ship, or any reference to its design... confirm your status and intentions..._"

"Took them long enough," muttered Tigh, "Least they 'sound' human."

"If they are human," pondered Adama, "Then where the frack did we jump to?"

"Frack... me..." said Starbuck.

**SSV Shanghai – CIC**

The radio crackled again...

"_... SSV Shanghai... this is the Galactica... we are receiving you loud and clear. Our intentions are peaceful... we have sustained heavy damage... and currently adrift in space... requesting urgent assistance... we have civilians on board..._"

"_... Galactica... request received... we are sending a scouting party to assess your situation... if everything checks out, we will try to assist as best we can until additional support arrives... do you understand?_"

"_... Message received... awaiting your team... we will comply as much as possible..._"

"_... Acknowledged... be aware our officers will be armed... however... they will not fire unless fired upon..._"

"_... Understood... similar orders will be issued to my own crew..._"

"End the transmission Lieutenant... get a four man fire team and a medic, prepped and ready to leave for the other ship a.s.a.p." the Commander ordered. "Lieutenant Vega is to go with them as squad leader."

"Right away Commander."

"Orders are to dock with the ship, assess the situation and intent of the crew, then report back to us. Should they appear hostile, and are fired upon, they are to retreat back to the shuttle and return here."

"Affirmative."

"This is Vega we are talking about sir?" whispered the Colonel. "After everything that happened in the Reaper War... any hostilities are probably gonna end... quickly..."

"We need to send someone who is going to be able to deal with the situation if things go sour," he replied, "however... I'm getting too old to deal with another 'First Contact War.'" he sighs.

**SSV Shanghai – Hanger Bay**

Vega stood at the armoury supervising the recruits prepare for the assignment, wishing that 'for the love of god' he was back on the Normandy with people who knew which end of the gun was the 'noisy' end.

Whilst the others were helping each other into their combat armour, he noticed one of the recruits trying to lift his favourite weapon from the rack.

"Whoa whoa whoa... hold on there Chico..." Vega says as he slowly pulls the M76 Revenant out of the recruits hands, "... you've only just had your training wheels taken off... let Daddy handle the big toys... ok?"

Across the hanger bay, the pilot leant out from around the door of the awaiting Kodiak shuttle. "Lieutenant Vega? We are prepped and ready for take-off!"

"Hear that kids? Mom's waiting and ready to go!" he calls to the recruits. "If you ain't ready in two minutes... I'm leaving you here!"

The recruits scrambled to collect their gear, and piled into the shuttle. Vega climbed in, and knocked twice on the wall.

"Ok... lets go!"

_END OF CHAPTER_


	4. Chapter 2: Revelations

**Chapter 2: Revelations**

**Galactica – CIC**

Under normal circumstances, the CIC would be full of the sound of cheering crew members to find a ship willing to help them out of their predicament. However, this time the entire CIC was silent... nobody knew what to say. The newcomers sounded human, but the long journey and countless battles against the Cylons had made them wary. There was no guarantee that those on the other ship were who they appeared to be.

"Tigh... I want you to head down to the port hangar to meet the scouting party." said Adama. "I also want to you take a squad of marines down there... just in case. We have no idea what to expect when they arrive."

"Aye aye Commander." he replied, wide-eyed.

"I want this to go smoothly, if we piss them off... it may just get us all killed." he whispered. "Try not to give them any reason to attack us, only take people you know can keep their heads under pressure."

"I understand Bill."

"I want you to take Sgt. Hadrian with you, she has a knack for judging when people are lying to her."

"Are you sure about this Bill?" Tigh asked "Last time you let her off her leash, she started a witch hunt on the ship..."

"Maybe so, but she's the highest ranking officer in the marines we've got left ..." Adama whispered, "and she proved herself when Gaeta instigated the mutiny... I'm willing to give her the chance to be 'one of us' again."

"I'll make sure she knows that sir." he said, throwing a lazy salute before leaving the CIC, heading straight to the marine ready room.

When he arrived, he found the place in chaos. The ready room had been transformed into a makeshift med bay to help cope with all the wounded. Tables, camp beds, and any spare blankets were being used as temporary sick beds, however many just ended up lying on the floor.

Tigh looked across the hall, and spotted Hadrian on the other side, helping to apply bandages to another marine. "Sgt. Hadrian," he called as he approached, she stood and saluted. "You have orders to assemble a squad of marines in the port hanger. They need to be able to keep a level head."

Sgt. Hadrian looked at him, with a look of confusion on her. "Are you sure the admiral wants me on this sir?" she asked nervously. The events of the last few days had obviously rattled her, but she was managing to keep her cool.

"The admiral specifically asked for you Sgt." Tigh replied. The fact that the admiral had asked for her personally seemed to make her grow a few inches, as the feeling of pride filled her. Standing to full attention, she saluted like she was back on a parade ground.

"I won't sir, you can count on me. I've got just the squad in mind." she blurted.

Tigh couldn't help but smile. Only Adama could inspire people to do their duty like that.

"At least she's trying" he thought . "Good to hear Sgt, you need to make sure they are ready for anything... these things sound human, but for all we know they have eight arms and talk out their asses!" he whispered.

"To be fair Colonel, I've met plenty of humans who talk out of their asses too!" she replied with a smile.

"You have your orders Sgt." he said. He then left the room and headed for the hangar bay, while Hadrian began putting together her squad.

**Galactica – Port Landing Bay**

Tigh stood on the flight deck, awaiting the arrival of the scouting party. Debris was strewn around the hall, with the broken remnants of the Viper and Raptor squads moved into various piles. Available deck hands and crew rushed around clearing an area near the hangar doors to serve as a meeting point between the two ships representatives.

Sgt. Hadrian approached the Colonel, "We're as ready as were gonna be sir", she reported.

"Well I hope they get here soon... they sure are takin' their sweet time!" he grumbled.

The ship's intercom sounded. Tigh walked over to the nearest receiver, and picked it up.

"Tigh," Adama's voice said, "DRADIS has confirmed the scouting party's shuttle is inbound... they should be landing any time now... be ready for them when the hangar doors open. We still can't be sure what to expect when they arrive... so keep your guard up."

"Will do Bill." Sirens then sounded, followed by loud thuds and hissing as pressure was restored outside the hanger door. "Gotta go Bill... looks like our guests have parked up outside and waiting to come in." he said.

As Tigh made his way back towards the marines, the hanger doors began to open. On the other side, he could see an odd-looking craft. Roughly the same size as a Raptor, it looked like a flying brick, but coloured blue and white. It was clearly armed, however. He wondered what it handled like, as far as he could tell it didn't look very space worthy at all.

A door in the side, which he previously hadn't noticed, opened and four beings poured out, taking positions on either side of the craft, obviously trained professionals. A larger being, which Tigh assumed was their leader, then exited the craft. He appeared to survey the area, but it was hard to tell where they were looking through their dark coloured helmet visors. The larger one also seemed to be carrying the largest weapons. Tighs hand strayed to his pistol subconsciously, but he restrained himself from drawing it. Another being left the craft. This one appeared less threatening than the others, and was concentrating on a large glowing dial that extended along its arm. This one appeared to be female, from a quick glance over its build and frame.

"What the frak is that sir?" asked Sgt. Hadrian, gesturing to the glowing device.

"Damned if I know Sgt... just keep your head, and watch them. They ain't shooting, so we show them the same courtesy." he ordered.

After a few seconds, the one with glowing object leant over and whispered something to the leader. Tigh thought he could hear them, but he couldn't understand a word of the language they used. 'Gods, I wish I could at least see their faces," he thought, "At least then we might have some idea what we are dealing with here."

The leader raised his gun, then to Tigh's amazement, folded it up into a cube half its original size, and stowed it on his back. Another glowing device instantly appeared on his arm, which he then spoke into. As he spoke, the device then started talking in a language they could understand.

"Greetings... errrrm... I'm Lt James Vega... Systems Alliance, my medic's done a quick scan of the air in here, and apparently we all breath the same stuff." He looked around the room at Tigh and the marines. "I'm gonna take this helmet of so we can all talk proper... get me?" Tigh nodded at him. The leader slowly moving his hands up to his helmet. There was a hiss as the seals detached, and pulled it off of his head.

Every crew member in the hanger bay gasped. It was human. They had already seen all the Cylon models, so he HAD to be a real human being. Not a single word was said... but everyone was thinking the same thing... "What the frack is going on?".

**SSV Orizaba**

The captain's quarters were silent. Sat at her desk, clutching a framed photo in one hand, and a glass of scotch in the other, Hannah Shepard thought of her daughter. It had been nearly three months since she had received the news... her child had died, for a second time. Now all she had to remember her by was the photo she now clutched, the few extranet messages they had exchanged over the last few years... and the stories she heard from passing strangers. The legend that was Jane Shepard would live on forever... but to her, the little girl with pig-tails in the photo was now gone.

"Not that the pig-tails lasted long anyway" she thought. "Three weeks later she came back from school with cropped hair and a busted lip."

A knock at the door snapped her out of her mournful daydreaming. "Enter!" she called as she hastily wiped a single tear off of her face.

A dark-haired girl poked her head around the door, "Ma'am," she said with a clear British accent, "We have a situation in the CIC."

"Report Officer Traynor, what's going on?"

"There's an incoming distress call coming from the Arcturus Stream... authorisation codes confirm it's the SSV Shanghai, ma'am."

"Shanghai... aren't they supposed to be out there on a training run?"

"They were ma'am, but they seem to have come across something that is rather out of their pay-grade..."

"Report back to the CIC officer... I'll be there in a moment." Hannah ordered.

"Ai ai ma'am."

Traynor retreated back behind the door, and closed it behind her.

Hannah took one last look at the photo. "If you are watching, I've got a feeling I'll need your help on this one baby girl." she thought.

She placed the picture back into the drawer, straightened her uniform, and headed for the CIC.

As she entered the CIC, she found a scene of organised chaos. Officers and crew members darting from one place to the next, trying to gather as much information as possible on the situation. Hannah took her place at command station. "What's our status... I need to know everything."

"According to the intel, the Shanghai encountered a strange craft of unknown origin." Traynor replied. "The crew appears to be human, but they are definitely not alliance."

"Could they be Cerberus?" asked the admiral. There were still elements of the racist, bigoted, bastards holed up in various parts of the galaxy. Hannah had made it her mission to clear out as many of these remaining groups as possible. In general the races were more united than ever after the events of the Reaper War, and they didn't need anyone screwing that up. Besides... her soon-to-be grand-daughter would be an Asari.

Thinking about this reminded her... she really needed to contact Dr. T'soni to see how she was doing. She had thought about it several times before, but struggled with the thought of facing her without Jane. She snapped back to reality as Traynor replied.

"As far as we can tell... it is unlikely, ma'am. The Shanghai is treating it as if it were a first contact situation. No indications to suggest Cerberus has any connection to this thus far."

"This is getting weird," she whispered to Traynor, "I had wondered if it could have been another colony, isolated after the relay network went down... however, they would have still recognised an alliance ship."

She looked down at the various reports before her, intended to help her make an informed decision, but she already knew what she needed to do.

"Right... we have an alliance vessel out there that needs our assistance," she announced to the room, "Helmsman... have us plot a course for the Shanghai's position. Traynor, notify the admiralty board of our situation. Hackett and the fifth fleet will probably want in on this, and god knows we may need them if this goes tits up!" She ordered.

Traynor blushed slightly at the mention of 'tits'. She stoically moved on and did her job, despite a nearby ensign giggling to herself at her reaction. "I've plotted the course, and set the coordinates in the NAV system to the nearest relay, ma'am." She said. She looked to the ensign and gave her best 'Commander Shepard glare', which quickly silenced the giggling. "Shepard would be proud." she thought to herself.

As the dreadnought approached the relay, the rings within it started to spin faster, powering up, and white light built up in the centre. The ship turned to the correct angle of the next relay, and built up speed.

"Prepare to jump!" Shouted the helmsman.

The entire ship was smothered in the white light, and with a loud crackling noise the ship blinked out of existence, towards its destination.

**Galactica – Port Landing Bay**

Vega stood there... the awkward silence that had descended was getting weird as it stretched on.

"Uhm... Is this thing on?" he said, tapping his Omni-Tool. "You guys understand what I'm saying?"

The representatives from the Galactica were just stood there staring.

"They look like they might be in shock, Lt." the medic whispered.

Tigh finally composed himself, "Ohhh... we can hear you alright boy... we just don't quite get what's going on here is all."

Vega was taken-aback by this statement. "I don't get what you mean. It's not like you've never seen another human before right?"

"I seen plenty o' humans in my time... most of 'em died back home in the colonies!"

"So... you from another lost colony or something?" Vega said. "Jeez..." he thought, "these guys rode in right of the crazy train outta nowhere."

"Was it the Reapers?" Vega asked.

"What the frack's a Reaper?"

It was then that the main hanger bay doors opened, and Adama walked in, with Roslin hanging onto his arm, and Lee. They stopped next to Tigh, a look of bewilderment on their faces as they saw Vega and his team stood there.

"I don't believe it." said Roslin, breathing heavily. "Are you survivors from the Cylon attack?" she asked.

"Cylon attack? Lady I don't know what you are talking about... we are Earth Alliance marines! I never heard of these 'Cylons'... unless that's what you call Reapers where you're from?"

Everything was silent again... Roslin, Lee, and Tigh were all stood there open-mouthed and wide-eyed.

"Earth..?" she breathed. "Are you sure?"

"Last time I checked," answered Vega, now completely confused by these people, "Where else would I have come from?"

"Knowing you, sir, probably a big amoeba that wandered in from one of the moons of Jupiter!" one of the marines shouted. The other marines fought to suppress their laughter.

Roslin stood there clutching Adama's arm shaking. The questions and confusion whirling around in her mine was making her light-headed. Overcome with exhaustion, she began to slump to the floor. Adama caught hold of her, and lowered her slowly to the floor.

"Laura... you shouldn't have come down here..." whispered Adama.

"I am president of the Twelve Colonies Bill..." she said breathlessly "... I NEED to be here."

This was when the Field Medic began to stride over, pressing staring intently at her Omni-Tool. As she approached the Galactica marines stiffened and aimed their weapons.

"STOP!" yelled Vega, as he rapidly raised his own weapon. The colonials stared in amazement as the small box unfolded into a gun in the blink of an eye. "LOWER YOUR WEAPONS... OR I'LL BLOW SO MANY HOLES INTO YOU... YOUR MOTHER WOULDN'T RECOGNISE YOU!" The other members of his team also locked their weapons onto the Galactica crew members.

"I'm not going to hurt anyone..." the medic said "... I just want to make sure she's ok?"

The medic stood there, and removed her helmet, revealing a pretty faced young woman with shining auburn hair tied back into a neat bun. The Galactica were taken-aback, but kept their weapons locked on the woman.

"LOWER YOUR WEAPONS!" barked Adama, he was wary of the newcomers... but Roslin obviously needed medical attention. "These people may be able to do something for her." he thought.

The marines slowly lowered their weapons, and the medic carefully approached Adama and Roslin. She knelt beside them and began fiddling with her Omni-Tool again.

"Ok... I'm just going to do some preliminary scans on her to find out what we are dealing with here." she said to Adama.

"You can do that with that thing?" Lee said sceptically, standing over them like a guard.

"I can do many tricks with this 'thing'." she said, throwing Lee a quick wink, which left him blushing slightly.

The dials spun and lights flashed on the omni-tool as she waved it across Roslin, who was slipping in and out of consciousness.

"Oh..." she said quietly "... stage four cancer... originating in the breast from what I can tell..."

"Can you do anything?" asked Adama.

"I can't do anything more than stabilize her and make her more comfortable here." she replied. "With something like this she needs to see a qualified surgeon. With your permission, I want to give her a shot of Medi-Gel?"

"What's that?" Lee said defensively.

"It's a treatment we use in the field for most wounds," she replied, "But in this case it might slow down the progress of her illness. It also acts as a painkiller and sedative."

"You can't let her do this Dad," Lee whispered to his father, "We literally just met them, and now she wants to start injecting her with things? How do we know we can trust her? What if it kills her?"

"Lee... she is going to die without help," he replied calmly, "if she's going to go... at least this way she'll go peacefully." He then turned to the medic. "Do it."

"I promise you don't need to worry about it," she told them, "Medi-Gel has never caused a death, except when intentionally overdosed... and I'm going to be extremely careful... ok?"

Lee glared at the woman, desperately trying to read her intentions. She knelt there, staring straight back up at him, unblinking.

"Fine." He huffed. "Do it."

_END OF CHAPTER_


	5. Chapter 3: Arrival

**Chapter 3: Arrival**

**SSV Shanghai - CIC**

"Commander, status report received from Lieutenant Vega." Said the Lieutenant. "So far everything checks out. There are large numbers of wounded crew-members aboard, and the ship itself has sustained heavy damage and is in desperate need of repair. However, the enemy contacts responsible are still unknown, although one of their representatives made references to something called 'Cylons'. And the crew seems to have no knowledge of Alliance Military or our territories at all. It is also assumed they have no knowledge of the Citadel, or the Counsel either."

"If they are human, I don't understand how they have no knowledge of us!" the Commander exclaimed. "As for 'Cylons'... I have never heard of anything by that name."

"We have also have confirmation that our distress call was received... SSV Orizaba on route, ETA thirty minutes."

"Orizaba...?" the Commander said.

"Oh great..." said the Colonel, "The Matriarch's coming for a visit. Better roll out the red carpet."

"You don't sound pleased?" the Commander said with a wry smile.

"Don't get me wrong, there's no-one better to deal with this kind of situation... I just don't think my ribcage can take another bear-hug from that woman!" the Colonel winced at the thought.

"I think your old bones will be spared under the circumstances." he replied. "I'd imagine her priorities are elsewhere, besides trying to mother the entire fleet."

**Galactica – Port Landing Bay**

The effect was almost immediate. Roslin now lay there asleep peacefully, not a trace of pain on her face.

"How long is she going to be out for?" Adama asked the medic, with a worried frown on his face.

"I'm not sure," she replied, "To be honest I gave her a minor dose just to be safe... I think the reason she's out now is down to sheer exhaustion."

"Lee... I want a team down here to take the president to the med-bay." ordered Adama.

"I should go too... in case she deteriorates." said the medic.

"If you're going up there, you're taking Chico with you." Vega called to her.

"I don't think we have too much to worry about sir. But whatever helps you sleep at night." The medic rolled her eyes at him. "Besides... I thought we were here to assess the situation... Don't you think that would be easier in their medical facilities?" she stated with a hint of annoyance.

"I'm sending two of my marines up there with her," Adama told Vega, "I give my word, she'll remain safe."

Vega glared at them for a moment, glancing between the medic and the admiral.

"Fine..." he replied curtly, "... we need to check out some of the damage anyway before our support arrives."

"What support?" Tigh asked suspiciously.

"You didn't think we were gonna do this on our own did ya?" Vega replied. "What would you have done? 'Oh look... people we've never met before have turned up in a huge warship... lets invite them over for drinks!' I don't think so."

"He's right Tigh." Adama said, chuckling at the Lieutenant's comment. "We'd have had the entire fleet on top of them if the position was reversed."

"Ok... so who are we expecting?" asked Tigh.

"Well you kinda caused a bit of a commotion with the head honcho's back home... so they're sending the 'boss-lady' to take charge.

"Does your boss have a name?" Adama asked.

"Sure... Admiral Shepard.." he said.

**SSV Orizaba – CIC**

Hannah Shepard stood at the command station watching the strange alien craft. She seemed to have a sturdy design, but had obviously seen better days. Her heart went out to the captain of this once proud warship... if they were a captain of any integrity, they must be in a deep pit of despair. Only another captain could understand.

"Incoming report from the Shanghai, Admiral..." said Traynor, knocking her out of her thoughts.

"Send it to my station specialist." she said, her 'battle mode' as Jane had always called it had taken over. The caring, happy-go-lucky woman she naturally was, pushed to one side as she assessed the situation. She read through all the intel the first responder team had uncovered about their new guests.

"Human... but no knowledge of the alliance... but an obvious reaction to 'Earth'... what the hell is this?" she thought. "I never seem to get the simple jobs." she muttered to herself.

"Ma'am the Shanghai has acknowledged our arrival, and are requesting orders" Traynor reported.

Shepard read over the reports again, ensuring she had all necessary facts committed to memory. It seemed incredible that these people were unaware of the Alliance's existence. She had seen cases of amnesia before, or PTSD that could erase memories... but for it to happen to such a large group of people was completely unheard of. Not to mention the ship was of a design, completely unheard of by any known race in the galaxy. This meant there was some serious brainwashing going on here... or... they were telling the truth.

Sighing to herself, she thought about what steps should be taken. Whatever the case, these people so far appeared to be no threat to them. The preliminary scans on the ship revealed that the ship was holding together... but only just... and that most of their weapons were either damaged, or destroyed. The priority now was to ensure the crew of the ship were kept safe.

"I want as many spare engineers and medics to assemble in the hangar bay for immediate deployment onto the other ship." she ordered. "I also want a platoon of marines armed and ready to go with them as guards... we still cannot guarantee their safety, so have another platoon on stand-by just in case they need back-up."

"By your command, Shepard." answered Traynor. (*)

"Excuse me...?" Hannah said, giving Traynor an odd look.

"Sorry commander... old habit..."

"I also think its time me and this 'Adama' spoke face to face." she said, "Arrange a meeting between us and their leaders aboard this ship. I want to see what kind of people they are for myself."

"Right away Admiral." Traynor replied, hurrying off to relay the admirals orders.

_( *Note: We are aware that it was Kelly Chambers who made the statement: "By your command, Shepard" but we wrote it in as we felt it was too funny to leave out, and Kelly's whereabouts are unknown as she is currently in hiding, living under a different name.)_

**Galactica – CIC**

Adama strode into the CIC with Lieutenant Vega and his entourage in tow. Officers darted back and forth, checking systems, adjusting calibration's, and generally trying to clear up as much debris as was possible. They were so preoccupied dealing with the shambles that had ensued following the last battle, they hadn't noticed the Admiral enter.

"ADMIRAL ON DECK!" barked Tigh. The entire room instantly stopped what they were doing, and stood to attention, saluting their commander. Everyone fell silent when they noticed the large soldier stood next to the admiral. He definitely wasn't one of theirs... they all thought.

"At ease." Adama ordered. "This is Lieutenant Vega... he and his team have been sent as representatives of the Shanghai... the ship we encountered about an hour or so ago. They are part of the 'Earth Systems Alliance'.

At the mention of 'Earth'... the room was filled with whispers and murmuring, and several officers jaws physically dropped... staring wide-eyed at the strange-looking group.

"Our last jump has accidentally landed us in their territory... however... they seem to be trustworthy, and willing to negotiate. I have therefore granted them permission to explore, and evaluate the ships condition, in the hope that they are able to offer assistance. I want you all to cooperate with them to the best of your ability."

Adama paused for a moment to let the flood of information sink in.

"Back to your posts." he ordered.

"You guys are having a hard time believing us about Earth huh?" Vega whispered to Adama.

"We already found one earth..." he replied "...it was a nuclear wasteland. So forgive us for not jumping for joy just yet."

"It's ok... I kinda understand... I just think its weird that you guys don't know anything about us."

"The only woman who had any kind of information about earth... is currently lying in the med-bay with your medic." Adama stated.

The Omni-Tool on Vega's arm began to flash.

"Admiral, inbound vessel on DRADIS..." called an officer, "...Looks like it's about the same size as the Galactica, Sir. Inbound on our position. From the looks of the intel, it's similar to the Shanghai."

"Yeah... I just got confirmation, our backup has arrived." Vega said to Adama.

"So what happens now?" Adama asked.

"Well... the boss wants to talk mano-a-mano..." Vega stated, but seeing the confused expression on the admirals face quickly added, "...That means face to face... okay?"

"I expected that would happen... what can I expect from her?" asked the Admiral. They'd only spoken for a short while, but he got the feeling that the lieutenant was trustworthy.

"Ok, they've sent over Admiral Shepard. Real strong lady... she's faced almost every enemy humanity has ever had, and won. She commands a lot of respect in the Alliance." Vega replied.

"You can vouch for her?"

"By reputation yeah... I've never served with her myself." Vega said. "But my last post was on her daughters ship... if they're anything alike, then you know you're definitely in good hands."

The lieutenant looked at him earnestly. Adama still wasn't sure what to make of these people, but he knew Roslin thought they were somehow connected to the thirteenth tribe. Whether this was true or not, they were the only other humans they had met in a long time, and they appeared to be capable of helping their situation. For now, they needed to ensure the negotiations went smoothly.

"The admiral wants to talk to you as soon as possible sir. Do you have anything working to get you there?" Vega asked. "If not we've got a shuttle that can take you."

"I'm sure we can find a working Raptor. I'm bringing a few of my crew with me, so we'll need the space."

"Got it sir. We'll leave you to get your team ready, and meet you back in the hanger bay." Vega replied. "I'm also sending another one of my team to the med-bay to stay with our medic... protocols." he said rolling his eyes."

"Agreed." Adama replied. "No harm will come to her on my ship, this I swear as a Tauron. I offer my head, otherwise."

Vega nodded, threw the Admiral a quick salute, then left the CIC with the rest of his team.

Adama stood there for a moment thinking about the preparations he needed to make. With all the chaos going on he had almost forgotten about the rest of the fleet waiting for contact from the Galactica.

"Tigh, you have command while I am away. I need you to contact the rest of the fleet, and explain the situation to them."

"Sure thing Bill." Tigh replied. "You sure you're gonna be ok over there? We've literally just met these guys!"

"What choice do we have?" Adama sighed. "Without help... we are basically stranded out here."

"I don't like it... But once you've made up your mind you ain't changing it any time soon." Tigh said with a grin. "Just make sure you come back in one piece... this ship ain't going nowhere without its commander."

The two men saluted each other, and Adama headed off to gather his team.

**Galactica – Port Hangar Bay**

Adama stood in the hangar bay with his team while the Raptor was being prepped. He wanted to make sure that he took people he could trust... the impending meeting with the Admiral from earth was vital to their survival.

With Roslin still in the med-bay, it fell upon Lee as Vice President, to act as representative of the Colonial Government. Starbuck was the one who initially jumped the ship to this location, and the other admiral would no doubt want to speak with her. Sharon Agethon (aka Athena) was chosen to fly the Raptor, with a model six Cylon as her co-pilot. They would act as representatives of the Cylons, who were required to be there under the terms of their alliance... Sharon was, however, one of their best pilots, and would be crucial if anything went wrong during the negotiations. With Helo still not allowed to leave the med-bay, he was more than happy to look after Hera. Two marines had also been chosen to accompany them as guards.

"So... you think these guys are the 13th tribe?" Starbuck whispered to Adama. "If so, they are really big on protocol... or they just have a huge stick up there collective asses and are showing off."

"I'd imagine the president would be able to tell us more, but she's in no fit state to help us right now." Adama replied. "However... do me a favour... try not to agitate them, we can't afford to pick a fight." he said with a smile.

"Sure thing sir." she replied with that mischievous grin of hers. "I'll do my best to make a few friends."

"It always worries me when you say things like that." Adama sighed.

He then turned to Lee. When he first arrived in the hangar bay, Lee was still in his combat gear from the previous battle. As he was representing the colonial government as Vice President, Adam suggested to Lee it would be more appropriate to change into something that was more befitting of his position.

"You ready for this?" Adama asked his son.

"Not really... but sometimes you gotta roll the hard six." he replied.

Adama nodded in agreement.

"Admiral, Raptor prepped and ready to fly." called a deckhand.

One by one, the team members filed into the Raptor. Adama paused for a moment as Vega strolled over from his waiting Kodiak.

"Ok sir, we're gonna escort you to the Orizaba. Take it nice and slow, we ain't sure how your ships handle out there and we don't want any accidents on the way." Vega said.

"Got it," replied Adama, "What happens when we land?"

"You'll be safe enough over there don't you worry..." Vega said, "... but just to stay on the safe side, don't get out until we come to get you... ok?"

"Agreed. Lets get going!" Adama shouted as he slapped the side of the Raptor.

Adama sat down in his seat, as the ship was transported to the landing bay, ready for take off. They had all been through so much since the fall of the colonies... this meeting was their chance to finally make some progress in finding a new home, or to at least have some repairs made to the ship.

"Please wake up soon Laura," he thought to himself, "We need you now more than ever..."

_END OF CHAPTER_


	6. Chapter 4: Heart-To-Heart

**Chapter 4 - Heart-To-Heart**

**Galactica - Med-Bay**

When she finally opened her eyes, Roslin knew she had been out for a long time. She looked around the room, trying to get her bearings. She was lying in a bed in the med-bay from the looks of it. She suddenly realised that she felt good. No pain from any of the injuries during the last battle... and more importantly... the feeling of sickness and general aching she had developed from the cancer were almost gone, replaced with slight light-headedness and mild drowsiness.

As she turned her head, she noticed a red-haired girl stood next to the bed, fixated on a glowing device on her arm. "By the gods..." she thought, "...it wasn't a dream?"

The medic noticed her stirring, and realised she was now awake.

"Hello there madam president..." she said softly, "...how are you feeling?"

"A little light-headed I suppose," Roslin replied, rubbing her hands over her face, "... but otherwise... better than I have for the past few months. What was it that you gave me earlier?"

"Medi-gel... it's a short-term treatment for many things."

"And the cancer?"

The medic looked up sadly from her omni-tool. "I'm afraid it's still there..." she said, "Medi-gel is a wonderful substance... it's currently reducing the inflammation and infection caused by the cancerous growths, and blocking much of the pain. But it can't work miracles..."

"So... how long do I have left?" Roslin asked, she had accepted the end was coming a long time ago, and wasn't afraid to face it.

"I'm currently running some diagnostic scans to assess the damage, and its progression." she replied. "However I think we can keep you stable for the time being, until we can get you to one of our specialists... they know much more than I do, and may be able to do something." She smiled and threw Roslin a quick wink. "Sorry... you're just going to have to hang in there for a while longer."

"Well... you keep dosing me with that stuff... and I'll manage quite nicely." she replied with a chuckle.

"It's a deal." the medic replied.

"So hows the mothers meeting going?" a marine asked as he walked into the room.

"What are you doing here Alder?" The medic asked.

"Yeah..." Chico piped up from behind the curtain, "I can handle looking out for these two myself!"

"You know the rules Chico," Alder replied sternly, "Two of us are supposed to guard at the same time... You watch my back... I'll be watching hers." he said with a sly grin.

"Under the circumstances... I'd say one guard was more than enough." the medic replied in an annoyed tone.

"Whoa don't shoot the messenger love..." he replied, holding his hands up, "...the lieutenant sent me up..."

"Fine..." barked the medic, "...well seeing as you're already here, why don't you go guard the door... I don't think you're helping anyone standing there in the middle of the room like a moron."

The marine blushed, and walked off sheepishly outside the med-bay to stand guard.

"So is there a story there?" Roslin whispered.

"Oh he'd like there to be." the medic replied with a smile. "But its always more fun to make them work for it don't you think?" she said with a wink.

A quiet snickering was heard from behind the curtain.

"Why don't you go out there and help him Chico?" she called out to him with a stern voice.

With that Chico scurried from around the curtain, saluted, and bolted out through the door.

"Treat 'em mean... keep 'em keen!" she said to Roslin, throwing her another wink.

Roslin fought to suppress her laughter. This girl had some fire in her, and a wicked sense of humour. She reminded her of a younger version of herself in many ways, back before the fall of the colonies. Her mind began to drift into other memories. She always used to be the fun sibling, back before the crash that killed both her sisters... and her unborn niece or nephew.

A loud clang snapped Roslin back into reality... someone had dropped a bedpan on the other side of the room. With the confusion of their initial meeting now over, Roslin decided now was a good time to gather some more information about the new arrivals.

"You've spent all this time watching over me... I don't even know your name?" Roslin said.

"Layna..." the medic replied, "... Layna Vallis."

"Layna, I hope you don't mind... but something's been troubling me... your superior mentioned earth before... and something called systems alliance?" Roslin paused for a moment, thinking through what she was going to say. "Could you tell me a little about that? If you are allowed to of course."

"I suppose there's no harm in telling you the standard tourist type stuff." she said with a wink. "Earth kind of looks like a pretty green and blue marble... kinda jumps out at you from nowhere. The surrounding planets all look pretty drab in comparison, so you can't really miss it. I've been there a few times, mostly during my training, but I did a long tour there after the reaper war."

"I've heard your people talk about these 'Reapers' several times now... but I must admit, I've no idea what they are." said Roslin. "Should we be worried?"

"I can't go into too much detail... as I'm not sure how much Alliance Command wants to reveal just yet." Layna replied. "Basically, they were a race of sentient machines. Really advanced... really old machines. Up until a few years ago, they were just a myth... nobody had any idea they really existed." she paused for a moment. "There had been some rumours about them before... but the first time most people had ever seen them was during the attack on the citadel. Even then, a lot of people buried their heads in the sand, and just believed that it was just one highly advanced ship..." The medic had a solemn look on her face as the memories came to her. "It wasn't until the Reaper Armada arrived a couple of years later that everyone finally accepted what they never wanted to admit."

"What happened there?" Roslin asked quietly.

"I can't say for certain," said Layna, "I was actually on shore leave... watched the attack on news reports over the extranet." She paused as she struggled to piece together the memories. "They touched down onto the planet... destroying everything in their paths... ships were blasted out of the sky... people running around trying to escape the carnage. It was a bloodbath... all our defences were useless... and for every reaper ground troop destroyed, more came to replace them."

"I'm sorry..." Roslin said, "...It must have been horrific."

"It was horrible to watch definitely... but I can't imagine what it must have been like for the people who were actually there." she replied. "Not long after, there was an emergency call to arms, all shore leave was cancelled, and we were rapidly transported to the fleets."

Roslin desperately wanted to know more, but she knew that this was a tough subject to bring up, and the girl was obviously becoming distressed. She'd have to proceed carefully.

"I take it Earth is safe now though? The Reapers are gone?"

"It took us a long time... but we finally managed to beat them." she said. "While the Reapers were preoccupied with destroying the planet, we worked on a secret weapon to defeat them. Took us a long time, almost all of our resources, and assistance from countless worlds to build it... but we got it working. When we set it off, every Reaper was destroyed."

Roslin sat there quietly, taking in as much information as she could... though it was a little overwhelming how similar this 'Reaper War' was to the fall of the colonies.

"After the weapon was used... we lost most of our technology for a while... and we lost a lot of good people throughout the fighting... since then, all our efforts have been put into rebuilding."

Roslin had had her suspicions confirmed... the Reapers were of alien origin. When the Cylons attacked, at least the colonies knew what they were, and where they came from. These people regarded them as myths. For Roslin, this left only two explanations... either the Reapers weren't as powerful as the Cylons... or the people of Earth were a force to be reckoned with...

Looking up at the girl, she suddenly realised she'd stopped talking, and was sat there looking to the floor, lost deep in her memories. Her eyes welling up slightly.

"I understand," Roslin said quietly, "I can quite understand how you feel... I sometimes struggle to deal with my emotions when I think of the colonies... so many good people lost... and everything we'd spent centuries creating gone in an instant."

The medic nodded in agreement.

"It all just seems like such a waste... so pointless..." she replied.

"But we are still here," Roslin replied, "And we need to be strong for those who remain with us... that is how I think we honour the fallen."

Layna wiped her eyes, and looked up at Roslin with a smile.

"I couldn't agree more." she replied. "On a brighter note, most of the rural areas got left alone, so we still had sustainable food sources. A lot of the heavy lifting is finished when it comes to cleaning up debris and structural repair, but it's still going to take a long time for everything to return to normal."

Roslin felt for the girl, and sympathised with the plight of her people... but she couldn't help but wonder how much these people would be willing to help them, if they were still recovering from an alien invasion.

"I have one more question, if you don't mind?" she asked.

"Fire away!" the medic replied.

"If these Reaper's were of alien origin... have you met any other races out there?" she asked.

"Ah... Are you comfy? I have a feeling this one is going to take a while..." she replied.

**ABOARD THE SSV ORIZABA**

Adama looked out of the viewing port on the Raptors door, and saw numerous marines. They could easily be mistaken for his own... though their gear looked more advanced and better, even, than those held by the squad that had visited Galactica earlier.

"It looks like the Admiral runs a very tight ship." Adama said. "These marines look highly trained, probably a special ops team in case we're dangerous." he looked around at his team. "We had better not give them a reason to fire at us... or piss them off..." he looked to Starbuck as he said this.

Starbuck looked either side of her, then to Adama with a smirk on her face. "What...? You think Mr Vice President over there is gonna pick a fight?" she replied. "Don't you worry sir... I'll keep his leash tight for you."

Everyone in the Raptor began to chuckle... apart from Lee... who sat in his corner rolling his eyes in annoyance. The ship fell silent at the sound of knocking. The door swung open, and Vega poked his head in.

"We're ready for you sir."

"OK Marines, I want you to take point. The Vice President and I will follow... Athena and the six follow us, and Starbuck bring up the rear." Adama ordered. "Be on your guard, but don't give them any reason to see us as a threat... we've already lost enough people... we can't afford to lose any more."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and at the admirals word, exited the Raptor in their pairs. They stood in formation on the hanger deck, with Vega and his remaining team beside them, surrounded by the ships marines.

Adama noticed a tall, athletic woman, dressed in formal uniform – which he assumed was related to her rank – with a large pistol strapped to her side. She was very beautiful, the only thing giving away her age was the grey streaks running through her auburn hair. She stared at them intently, not giving away any emotion or signals of her intentions. A younger officer stood at her side. At first glance she could have been mistaken for Dualla.

"You are Admiral Shepard, I presume?" Adama called to the woman.

"Correct... Admiral Adama... Welcome aboard the Orizaba" said Shepard as she walked over. She offered her hand to him. "Strong grip" he noted to himself. As she released his hand, he noticed the black arm band round her right arm. On Caprica, it was a sign of mourning. He wondered if it meant the same here. He introduced his team to Shepard, who acknowledged them with a salute.

"Now that we have the formalities out-of-the-way, would you please follow Specialist Traynor to the briefing room... we can talk privately there." Shepard asked indicating they should follow the younger officer from earlier, while she brought up the rear with four well armed marines. Lt Vega nodded to the Admiral as he walked by... almost as if to say 'good luck'. Adama dipped his head in response, and followed Specialist Traynor out of the hangar bay.

_End Of Chapter_


End file.
